Golden Compass Sneak Peak

[HeavenShallBurn]

Just yesterday I managed to snag a ticket into a sneak peak of Golden Compass....WOW

It was everything I expected in a Peter Jackson movie. The translation from the book was good enough, even though changes were made they didn't overly disrupt the flow of the story. The special effects were without doubt some of the best I've ever seen. The characters had depth and served their purpose quite well. The magisterium was a well done organizational conspiracy enemy. Even though pre-disposed I can say they are very easy to hate and want to see destroyed. The philosophical bits were well-meshed with the rest of the movie without being used like a club over the head.

 

[RangerWickett]

Did it make your children question the existence of God, and start hating the church? Because that's how the Atlanta newspaper presented it when they talked about it this week.

I need to get a copy of the book and read it first.

 

[Klaus]

I wanna know about the polar bears in barding.

 

[frankthedm]

Did it make your children question the existence of God, and start hating the church? Because that's how the Atlanta newspaper presented it when they talked about it this week.

This link has some details on why some folks say the movie / book have certain biases.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/11/30/1132988-golden-compass-points-to-controversy

 

[trancejeremy]

Just in time for the Christmas season, too. Charming.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Did it make your children question the existence of God, and start hating the church? Because that's how the Atlanta newspaper presented it when they talked about it this week.

Given that I'm not a member of the Abrahamic triad why should I care? Seriously this isn't the sort of movie to make your children question gods existence, at least so far. It is the sort the had fanatical controlling religious zealots you can't help but hate no matter who they represent. I heard one young teenager mutter something about the Megesterium being a**holes that needed to die, which is understandable as they were chopping out people's soul and free will for the sake of power. But nothing against God.

I wanna know about the polar bears in barding.

Done damned well, I swear it was impossible to tell they weren't physically real polar bears. Their characterizations were uniformly well-done and interesting. If you have VERY small children they might not want to see the duel for Kingship of the IceBears. It's not that bad until the very end where it gets possibly a bit to gruesome for the smallest little ones.

Also the daemons were done incredibly well, better than the ice-bears considering the number of them in the film in individual scenes. They acted truly like reflections of their people.

 

[Plane Sailing]

While it may seem difficult, please avoid making real world religious comments and references in this thread; that isn't a direction the discussion can go in.

By all means talk about the film, but use the language of the film and not any parallels the author may have been drawing in the novel.

Thanks.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I need to get a copy of the book and read it first.

I've not seen the film yet, but I've read the books. I really enjoyed the first one, but enjoyed the subsequent ones less and less.

I've heard reviewers say that it may be difficult to follow the plot if you are not familiar with the book. The litmus test will be when my wife and I go to see it; I've read it, she hasn't. Will she follow the plot? Time will tell!

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Just to be clear (while remaining within forum rules) the Magesterium was not the same creature as in the books. The feel of them from the movie had very few religious overtones actually. What the Magesterium are is everything bad that a large powerful organization can do rolled into a single convenient entity. As such it's nearly the perfect enemy, a group that embodies all our worst fears of what those in power are capable of if not held in check. And it has some powerful mojo.

The only problems I had with the movie were the problems I have with almost every movie using certain of its tropes. Why is it that these child protagonists whose parents/guardians knew from the beginning were in great danger have never been taught to be suspicious? Never taught to be wary and how to use a weapon, even though it's been known their entire life they were in grave danger?

 

[Darth Shoju]

I've not seen the film yet, but I've read the books. I really enjoyed the first one, but enjoyed the subsequent ones less and less.

I've heard reviewers say that it may be difficult to follow the plot if you are not familiar with the book. The litmus test will be when my wife and I go to see it; I've read it, she hasn't. Will she follow the plot? Time will tell!

I've never read the books (neither have any of the people I went to see this with), and we all had no problem following it. I enjoyed it immensely. I'm really hoping it makes enough money so that the others will get made (assuming they are as good as this one).

The Magesterium seemed more like bureaucrats than a religious body to me.